A primary goal of the Internet search engine is to accomplish the task of indexing a continually expanding collection of data. A multitude of techniques have been developed to crawl through content on the Internet and index each content item that the crawler encounters. The result is a tremendous searchable database what allows users to quickly find documents that are relevant to a given search query.
The current state of the art, however, merely provides search results matching or related to a given query and does not fully exploit known categorical attributes of a given search to fully optimize the manner in which a search engine presents a search results page. For example, a user may enter a search query comprising the name of a musician and may receive a search results page with links to a plurality of content items related to the musician, such as the official website of the musician, lyrics of songs by the musician, photos regarding the musician, etc. Where one or more specific content items related to the user are not included in the search results, the user typically must enter one or more subsequent search queries and review one or more sets of search results. This approach has the disadvantage of increasing the response time to providing an answer to the initial query intention of the user.
Prior art techniques attempt to remedy this situation by providing a list of related queries at the top of a search results page. For example, in response to a query for a musician, a search results page may display a list of the top related queries as one or more hyperlinks to subsequent search results pages. This solution is not ideal as the user must still navigate to one or more subsequent search results pages. Furthermore, the related links that the search results page provides do not represent the full spectrum of information for a given query.
Thus there is a need in the art for an interactive module for inclusion in a search results page that is operative to provide the user with direct content experiences as well as links to a plurality of content items related to a given search query. Additionally, there is a need for a search module that provides a comprehensive listing of available search queries or topics. Furthermore, there is a need in the art for a modernization of the standard search results page to decrease the amount of time necessary for a user to locate information that he or she desires. The systems and methods of the present invention provide solutions to this need by providing a dynamic and interactive module that is operative to provide the relevant data seamlessly and efficiently in the context of a search results page.